who lives here?
Marie Montaud, founder and creative
director of jewellery label Medecine Douce,
her husband Gilles Ballard, the company’s
general manager, their two children Gustave,
18, and Marguerite, 16, and Neko the cat.
Bijouxmedecinedouce.com |
@ bijoux_medecine_doucePARIS, THE CITY OF LIGHT. Think of Paris, and you conjure up
images of Haussmann-style buildings with white facades and
rows of French windows, with park views, sprung wide open. So
it’s hard to imagine that when Marie Montaud and her husband
Gilles Ballard were looking for a bigger home for their family of
four and came across this old factory, it didn’t have access to
natural light. Not even a window. Located on the ground floor
of an apartment block, their home took almost two years to
rebuild. But they had the vision and patience to see it through.
LET THERE BE LIGHT Marie and Gilles enlisted architect
Guillaume Terver of Le LAD studio to turn the warehouse into
an inner-city sanctuary. “The biggest challenge was the issue
of natural light,” Guillaume says. “And it took eight months for
all the approvals to be granted.” He tackled the lack of light by
designing the home around a central open-air courtyard, with
floor-to-ceiling glass walls and sliding doors separating each
room from the outdoor space, and tall, leafy plants for privacy.
GO WITH THE FLOW But it’s not just what’s on the outside
that counts. Inside, high ceilings, open-plan spaces and white
walls maximise the abundance of light. Poured concrete floors
throughout erase any sense of boundaries, and in the kitchen,
dining and living area, custom-built joinery along one wall serves
as a display for objects and books at one end, and shelving for
cookware at the other. “We use this area the most,” Marie says,
“because it’s calming, and because it has so many functions.”
TAKE YOUR TIME Having proven they can endure a lengthy
renovation, it’s not surprising that Marie and Gilles have spent
years amassing their collection of furniture and art. They scour
markets for antiques and take a restrained approach to buying
homewares. Surrounded by minimalistic and raw features, their
eclectic decorating style feels especially elegant. As Gilles puts
it, “Our home evokes a sense of wellbeing and balance, it’s raw
and smooth, contemporary and comfortable.” RNatural transition Custom shelving along the living room wall seamlessly
turns into kitchen units. The clean lines, blonde tones and mix of open and
closed storage fuse form and function. Light up Marie sits at her dining
table beneath glass bottle lamps from Merci. Free state Glass doors and
walls dissolve the boundary between the interior and courtyard (opposite). A@reallivingmag
46